10/25/2012

You personally may no longer care much for NBA commissioner David Stern and his rather strict, sometimes autocratic ways but there is no denying that in his tenure his company became a massive international brand.

On his watch the NBA became a global name, and leaped ahead of baseball and is firmly behind the NFL in terms of pro sports popularity.

Today, Stern announced that on Feb. 1, 2014 he will step down from the job and turn it over to Adam Silver. Stern took the job on Feb. 1, 1984. That's a pretty good 30 year run, even if it should have ended about five years ago.

Expect months and months of commentary as if Stern were dying, or is dead aleady.

David Stern was a kind man ....

The league has had its share of problems since he became its boss, and he has at times acted like a bully. In terms of the NBA pre-Stern and the NBA post-Stern, however, he deserves a large portion of the credit for pushing the league, expanding the league and marketing pro basketball in a way that had never been done before.

It became a billion dollar empire with Stern, and the NBA firmly established itself behind the NFL in terms of North American popularity.